The Burlingame Voice

Beautiful music, beautiful place!!

The Burlingame High School Band and Concert Choir will start the holiday season by playing holiday music in one of our most beautiful buildings in town:

DATE: November 30th
TIME: 5:30 - 7:30 pm
WHERE: Burlingame Garden Center, 1427 Chapin Avenue
Refreshments will be served

Also the Garden Center will donate 10 percent of all sales from 9:00 am to 8:00 pm on November 30th to help pay for instruments, uniform, recording equipment and workshops for the high school band and chorus.

Don't ya just love the Burlingame Garden Center!

- Written by Fiona

Rotation of Mayor

The Burlingame City Council's agenda for next Monday's council meeting includes a ceremony for the "Rotation of mayor". So what was all that baloney about foregoing the handing over the gavel because the hospital issue was more important?

We look forward to cake and champagne with our new mayor.

- Written by Fiona

Vote Postponed

The Daily Journal reports that the signing of the new hospital plan will be postponed until after the inauguration of the two newly elected boardmembers of the Peninsula Health Care District, Dan Ullyot and Rick Navarro. This is particularly important because the board was down to three because two members recused themselves because of conflicts of intererest.

The Board will make a presentation at the next district meeting at 5:45 pm on November 18 at 1783 El Camino to address residents' concerns.

Environmental issues will be discussed by the Burlingame Council this Monday night.

- Written by Fiona

Best Value

The Daily Journal article today compares shopping at Whole Foods, Safeway and Trader Joe's. From a basic shopping list of basic necessities like milk, eggs, cheese, butter, bread, peanut butter, laundry detergent, etc. the totals were:

Whole Foods - $32.54
Safeway - $36.21
Trader Joes - $26.27

Perhaps another example of why our Burlingame home owners and renters would like to see Whole Foods or Trader Joes on that "blighted corner" on Howard!

- Written by Fiona

Where's the Truth? Return Ed Larios to Burlingame High School!

Where's the Truth? Return Ed Larios to Burlingame High School!

Ed Larios, Dave Sullivan, Devo and a few other excellent BHS educators have been either transferred or pushed into retirement since Matt Biggar became principal of Burlingame High School. It is now time for the Burlingame public to get the truth behind the treatment of one of these great educators.

Ed Larios was illegally transferred to Hillsdale High School by BHS Principal Matt Biggar who cowardly fabricated a staffing emergency by intentionally waiting until in late August to remove Larios as the BHS Physical Education Department Chair. Biggar handled all other Department Chair interviews in May but specifically waited on Larios. Biggar and Larios worked on the same SMUHSD campus during the summer, yet Biggar never mentioned to Larios dropping him as Chair until a two weeks before school opened in August. Biggar held bogus interviews for the P.E. Department Chair position, refused to allow Larios to re-apply for his former job, refused to appoint a qualified female member of the department as Chair, and then brought in a pre-selected teacher from Hillsdale High School as P.E. Department Chair causing the BHS P.E. Department to become overstaffed. The fabricated overstaffing then required Biggar to remove one member from the BHS Physical Education staff. Biggar intentionally selected Ed Larios for transfer even though Larios was the MOST qualified teacher in the P.E. Department.

Ed Larios should have been the last teacher chosen for transfer as he was the senior member of the department, coached three sports (Men's and Women's Gold and Women's Frosh-Soph Basketball) is the recipient of numerous awards and commendations, and is credentialed to teach in three subject areas: P.E., Health Education, and Social Science. To add insult to injury, BHS Principal Matt Biggar has also rejected Larios's applications for his former coaching positions, now advertised as open. The lack of coaching applicants (besides Larios) has caused the school to pressure teachers to coach sports previously led by Larios, causing tension on the campus.

Ed Larios has suffered both financial and emotional damages are a result of this act at the hands of the BHS Principal and will most likely file a lawsuit for compensation. Ed Larios has remained relatively calm and cooperative as his appeal for return to BHS has been slowly dragged through the SMUHSD grievance process. Even though Principal Matt Biggar's actions are clearly unethical, discriminatory, and a violation of the SMUHSD contract, the SMUHSD administration has failed to correct the wrongdoing by returning Ed Larios to Burlingame High School. There is rumor that the district and its lawyers have conceded to Biggar's wrongdoings in this matter, but will not return Larios to the BHS campus because Biggar believes that Larios's return would create an awkward working environment.

Ed Larios is a professional educator, superior athletic coach, and dedicated community leader. He deserves the backing of the Burlingame community. When you see Matt Biggar on campus or at the annual Little-Big Game, ask him one question, What is the Ed Larios Truth? Why did you transfer him to Hillsdale??
Burlingame needs Ed Larios back on the BHS campus. How many great educators is Burlingame High School going to lose before the community takes action? Sullivan, Devo, Larios, ???

When Ed Larios is seen on the BHS campus, he is cheered by students and welcomed by the faculty. Ed Larios is a Burlingame community leader who has dedicated numerous hours to creating positive environments for our children. It is time for Burlingame to stand up for Ed Larios.

It is time to ask one question of BHS Principal Matt Biggar: What is the TRUTH regarding Ed Larios?

Ed Larios's appeal will be placed before the SMUHSD School Board on November 18, 2004. It is time for the public to get the truth. The residents of Burlingame should demand ethical and truthful role models for our children. The teachers of Burlingame High School are working in fear of retaliation or transfer if they speak up on this and other issues. It is time to tell the truth!

Demand the Ed Larios Truth and return Ed to Burlingame High School
Send an e-mail to the SMUHSD School Board and demand the truth!

[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]

- Written by JC

What would Burlingame do?

There is a vacancy on the Redwood City council with Ira Ruskin's election. So who should fill that position? Should it be someone who read the pulse of residents over Measure Q when the present council didn't? Or the candidate who received the next-highest number of votes in the previous election? Or a special or mail in election?

So what would Burlingame do if and when Mr. Coffey decides to leave for Florida? Would Russ Cohen as the candidate with the next-highest number of votes be appointed or would our new mayor want to spend money on a special election? It is an interesting question to ponder!

- Written by Fiona

Fried Egg Architecture - NOT!

Architect Dan Ionescu will be presenting his vision to the City Council, Planning Commissioners and public for a mixed use development on the Safeway site and educating us on more creative ways to make the best use of our downtown. His plan includes housing, retail, a plaza, parking and, of course, the S-word!

The usual fried egg architecture of a Safeway store surrounded by a sea of parking is not the best use of public and private land. Mr. Ionescu wants "to integrate the Safeway into the fabric of the city and improve pedestrian experience" Something all of us have been wanting for the past eight years of the Safeway Saga!

WHEN: Wednesday, November 10th
TIME: 6:30 PM
WHERE: Lane Room, Burlingame Public Library

We look forward to learning about Mr. Ionescu's preliminary proposal and seeing if it is right for Burlingame.

- Written by Fiona

November 18 School Meeting

There is a distressing article in the Daily Journal today about four Burlingame High School students who have recently been taken into custody for allegedly taking and selling the drug Ecstasy. This involved two 15-year old Burlingame residents.

There will be an important teen drinking and drug use seminar at BIS auditorium on Thursday, November 18th at 7:00 pm.

I have just attended a similar drug seminar at Notre Dame and even though many parents were dragged to the meeting kicking and screaming, it was so important to learn about "the new types of drug use that differ from when parents were teens". It is distressing to say the least.

Thank you to the Burlingame School District PTA, Burlingame High School parent groups and other high schools for trying to educate us too!

- Written by Fiona

Another Town but ...

Having just spent a wonderful Family Weekend at the University of Santa Barbara I was shocked to realize that the campus of 20,000 students plus parents/guests was cleaner than the streets of Burlingame.

Being a Trash Princess to Queen Bobbi, I know about Burlingame's trash! How can it be that a hardworking, partying bunch of students can keep their campus cleaner than we can here in our town?

How often does Burlingame Avenue and environs get cleaned? Anyone know?

- Written by Fiona

No pomp and circumstance

In the Burlingame Daily News (sorry no link) there is a very self-righteous article. It seems Mr. Galligan does not want the pomp and circumstance of his becoming sworn in as the new mayor because Mills-Peninsula Hospital is "more important than handing the gavel over".

What I think of our new mayor is not printable but I would have liked to have had the chance to be as rude as he was when Councilmember Nagel was sworn in.

For anyone wanting to see the "unceremoniously stepping into Mayor O'Mahony's shoes", the Council meeting is on Monday, November 15th at 7:00 pm and could be interesting if the new mayor gives the "kumbaya" speech!

- Written by Fiona